Among the many many nations Michael Kim flew to within the 2024 PGA Tour season was Mexico for the World Huge Expertise Championship.
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The lifetime of a PGA Tour professional can appear glamorous, darting throughout the globe and again all 12 months lengthy chasing big purses. However to perform all that jetting round, professional golfers depend on, properly, jets. And all that airline journey, plus the resort stays as soon as they arrive, comes at a stunning value.
We all know that because of Tour professional Michael Kim. Kim has turn out to be one of many finest follows on social media for golfers. He commonly dispenses priceless and attention-grabbing perception into the behind-the-scenes lifetime of a PGA Tour professional, each the great and the unhealthy.
It’s the form of transparency trendy sports activities followers like to see, and Kim offered his newest dose this week to his followers on X.
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In a publish on Friday morning, Kim shared a screenshot of a graph exhibiting the full cash he spent on flights and lodges for PGA Tour occasions within the 2024 season, revealing a staggering sum: $92,698.11.
That big value amassed whereas Kim performed in 30 completely different PGA Tour occasions in 2024, together with stops in Hawaii, Mexico, Canada, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Bermuda and factors all throughout the continental U.S.
Kim added that the $92K+ whole he spent featured “zero {dollars} spent on non-public flights, and infrequently enterprise class.” Not like some Tour stars, Kim all the time flies business, presumably making his journey prices far decrease than others, as he famous in his publish.
“Can’t think about a few of the high guys’ prices,” Kim wrote.
Kim’s instance is useful to coach golf followers on how expensive it may be to be a professional golfer exterior of the elite ranks. You need to spend large to have any probability of constructing a residing, and little cash is assured.
Kim, who has one profession Tour victory, nonetheless ended up within the inexperienced for the 2024 season. Regardless of lacking 13 cuts and solely capturing two top-10 finishes, Kim’s official cash for the season got here out to $1,484,233.
The lion’s share of these earnings, although, got here from simply 5 tournaments, additional exhibiting the monetary insecurity many gamers on the decrease rungs of the Tour face.
Sarcastically, his greatest paycheck of the season was $310,800 for a T6-finish on the American Specific, which was simply his second begin of the 12 months and was performed in California, the state the place he grew up.
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